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Do you like your neighborhood Mexican restaurant? Those Mexicans should probably keep all that native culture at home, right?
What?
You mean like the native Americans who lived here before Europeans colonized the country? That kind of respect?
I have no problem with ethnic restaurants in our country. They can be avoided if one feels that strongly about it. That's not the same thing as being out in mainstream America and feeling like one is living in a foreign country. It can't be avoided.
A native American is anyone who was born here to citizen or legal immigrants parents There are no special natives beyond that. All of our distant ancestors migrated here from somewhere else including those who came across the Bering Strait. Immigration = not being native.
and yes, my parents were Catholic to and hated....
And yet you still don't get it. Priceless.
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and you will have this on-going until the day of your great grand children's death....the American Culture still exists....
If American culture is going to persist despite influxes of immigrants from various corners of the world, then what's the problem?
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Originally Posted by tamajane
Were they also good English speakers? Some immigrants never learned decent English even if they arrived at a young age. Some current American borns either don't speak English or have a foreign accent.
My grandmothers were both born in the U.S. Yet they spoke their parents' languages fluently, and in public. I wish I would have paid more attention, and learned their languages from them. Actually, that's what I'm ashamed of - that I didn't value those cultures and languages until much later in my life.
My maternal grandfather was born overseas and immigrated to the U.S. when he was 18. He died when I was young, but I remember him speaking with a heavy accent and according to my mom his English wasn't the greatest. I'm not sure he ever gained U.S. citizenship - I'll have to ask my mom about that. If he did, it was much later in his life because one family story goes that, on a trip to Buffalo to visit his brother in the 1950s, he could not enter Canada at Niagara Falls because of his non-U.S. citizenship.
According to some folks here (not you, tamajane!), I should be embarrassed or ashamed of him. Hogwash.
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Sometimes cultures clash and in such cases the newcomer should respect the existing culture.
I don't disagree with that; I'm also of the mind that English should be declared the official language of the United States. But ... I have no problem with Mexican, Indian, Iraqi, etc. etc. businesses or families displaying their culture, speaking their native language in public, continuing age-old traditions - and being proud of them at the same time.
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Now we even have political diversity to contend with and urban vs. suburbs vs. rural, etc. Gentrification might improve an area but also displace the residents who move on and clash with another group.
That's been going on for centuries, and isn't likely to stop. Ever.
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Forced diversity/demanding "tolerance" causes division and strife.
Forced separation and not demanding tolerance doesn't work so well, either.
We already have multi-culturalism and it is a good thing. Our culture is an amalgam of the many ethnicities and nationalities that have come to the US. This melding of cultures makes NYC one of the most fascinating cities on earth and enriches the experience of living in our border states.
I have no problem with ethnic restaurants in our country. They can be avoided if one feels that strongly about it. That's not the same thing as being out in mainstream America and feeling like one is living in a foreign country. It can't be avoided.
A native American is anyone who was born here to citizen or legal immigrants parents There are no special natives beyond that. All of our distant ancestors migrated here from somewhere else including those who came across the Bering Strait. Immigration = not being native.
The problem comes when you have oppositional cultures to the main culture. I suggest googling “Ogbu involuntary minorities”. Many Islamic immigrants in the UK and Europe are causing much more harm than good.
I’ll say it again, we should be promoting tolerance, not diversity. Diversity without tolerance leads to conflict.
The problem comes when you have oppositional cultures to the main culture. I suggest googling “Ogbu involuntary minorities”. Many Islamic immigrants in the UK and Europe are causing much more harm than good.
I’ll say it again, we should be promoting tolerance, not diversity. Diversity without tolerance leads to conflict.
totally agree...and it isn't any longer a matter of "IF" Diversity threatens the USA, but "IS"
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